10 Unexpected Facts from the New Harper Lee Biography

Last week, Dwight Garner reviewedThe Mockingbird Next Door, and discussed how he was saddened by what he learned about the reclusive Pulitzer-winning octogenarian, such as the facts that she eats Burger King salads and likes to feed ducks. So we wanted to share ten things that we learned about Harper Lee that we think are awesome.

1. Every year, she goes on vacation to Las Vegas with Stan Lee, Sara Lee and Ang Lee. (She won Ang’s first Academy Award statue off him in a game of poker.)

2. She was a guest on Anthony Bourdain’s show, No Reservations, where she hunted, killed, and cooked a mockingbird for the host.

3. She can eat fifty hard-boiled eggs.

4. She once spit on Richard Ford at a party.*

5. Her nickname for Truman Capote was “Spuds Lonigan.”

6. The original title of “To Kill a Mockingbird” was “God, People Can Be Such Assholes.”

7. She, not Daniel Handler, is actually Lemony Snicket.

8. She once wrestled under the name “Atticus Pinch.”

9. She is Hulk Hogan’s godmother. (He has a tattoo on his left buttock that says “I Love Boo.”)

10. She always checks holes in trees for treasure. (She has found such things as a Fabergé egg, a six-pack of Crystal Pepsi, a copy of “Valley of the Dolls,” and eight thousand copies of the E.T. Atari video game.)